Day1 concluded with Athlete Centred Cross Talk, chaired by Dr Yaya Yamamoto and Ms Kana Sato.
Mr. Lacuna, Mr. Kozai, ORADO’s Ms Siniva Setareki discussed “how to keep athletes at the center of anti-doping efforts”.
Panelists shared their personal experiences with testing, initial skepticism toward anti-doping education, and how engagement ultimately inspired them to raise awareness among future athletes. The key theme was shifting the perception of anti-doping organisations from policing to ‘protecting’ athletes. The discussion then shifted to effective ways to keep athletes at the centre of ant-doping messaging and challenges in doing so.

Mr. Saravana Perumal and Mr. Kenny Lee, Manager, Asia/Oceania Office, WADA presented WADA's Anti-Doping Organisation (ADO) Benchmarking Project, which evaluates global anti-doping efforts and identifies gaps in programme delivery. A key aspect of the project involves categorizing countries in the Asia-Oceania region into tiers based on athlete participation, medal performance, and GDP per capita. These findings revealed significant resource disparities, with Asia-Oceania hosting 61 of the world's 209 NADOs, yet facing considerable differences in staffing and budget allocations. Education initiatives, such as ADEL, saw a 65% increase in active learners, driven by expanded multilingual content. The project also focused on enhancing monitoring and compliance, noting a 19% reduction in non-conformities across the region. Lastly, strategic testing trends and recommendations were shared, helping stakeholders better prepare for major upcoming events like the Pacific Mini Games and Asian Games.

Mr. Colin Allen's presentation highlighted the synergy between education and testing in anti-doping efforts. He introduced the Sport System Assessment, a framework for mapping anti-doping systems, identifying key stakeholders, and improving education delivery. This approach enables targeted communication and resource allocation, focusing on different athlete groups, support personnel, and sport organisations.
Mr. Allen stressed the importance of education plans with clear objectives, monitoring mechanisms and partnerships to ensure compliance and effectiveness. To address challenges like reaching rural or busy athletes, he suggested online modules and tailored sessions. He emphasized integrating anti-doping education into both national and international sport systems, aligning it with regulatory frameworks.

The presentation by Ms Alexis Cooper, Director of Education at Sport Integrity Australia, focused on strategies for ensuring integrity in sport through Sport System Assessment, education, collaboration, and evaluation. Key points included identifying gaps in sport systems, customizing education for athletes at all levels, and emphasizing the role of sport organisations in anti-doping education, supported by organisations like WADA, RADO and NADO. She highlighted the crutial role of Athlete Support Personnel (ASP) in implementing anti-doping measures and the need for collaboration with professional associations to integrate education into accreditation processes. Educational institutions also play a vital role in promoting sport integrity from an early stage. While strengths include mandatory education and commitment to implementing measures, challenges like limited access to parents and media remain. The 2024 evaluation of Sport Integrity Australia highlighted positive outcomes, such as broader education reach and improved athlete behavior, with 98% confident in medication and supplement checks. Education, collaboration, and evaluation are key to promoting clean sport.

Ms Keiko Uchitani, Director Testing JADA reviewed the Japan Anti-Doping Agency's (JADA) preparation for the Paris 2024. She detailed JADA's focus on Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) testing and high-risk period monitoring, achieving a 95% compliance rate with testing recommendations. However, she noted challenges in areas such as team sport testing. In terms of pre-event education, JADA ensured that 100% of the delegation, including athletes and support staff, were well-prepared through webinars and ADEL courses. Key takeaways emphasized the importance of collaboration between education, testing, and science to enhance anti-doping operations. JADA's efforts underscored the need to prioritize RTP/TP inclusion and proactively address logistical challenges ahead of major events.

The afternoon session featured a panel discussion summarizing key takeaways from the group discussions. The panelists included Mr. Tim Ricketts, Mr. Colin Allen, Mr. Perumal S, Mr. Kenny Lee, Dr. Yaya Yamamoto and Ms Keiko Uchitani. Topics covered RTP/TP management, whereabouts failure, pre-event education and testing and the implementation of the Code and International Standards.
Representatives from each group shared their session outcomes. The Education group proposed maximizing existing e-learning systems to reach athletes in remote areas or overseas. To accommodate athletes with busy schedules, they suggested integrating education sessions into their training schedules. Additionally, it was agreed that ant-doping information should be incorporated into National Federation websites and disseminated through social media and TV.

The Testing group highlighted challenges encountered during pre-game testing ahead of Paris 2024, including outdated athlete’s whereabouts information, difficulties in shipping blood samples, and an insufficient number of accredited laboratories. Regarding DCO management, concerns were raised about shortening the re-accreditation period from two years to one and the need for off-site quality control measures. The panelists noted the common challenges faces across groups and stressed the importance of learning from past experiences, evaluating current practices, and maintaining ongoing communication and collaboration with stakeholders.

After the group session reports, Ms Uchitani elaborated on why synergy between testing and education was a key theme of the seminar, illustrating her point with an example from JADA’s perspective. She explained that JADA’s education and testing departments held weekly meetings to coordinate the RTP registration process. Members from both departments shared insights into the meeting structure, procedures, and the factors that contributed to their success. Following this, participants engaged in group discussions on RTP management in their respective countries. The session concluded with an open-floor Q&A with the panelists.

At the closing of the seminar, Dr. Yamamoto summarized key discussions and emphasized three main points under the theme ‘Going Forward Together.’ She encouraged participants to reflect on where they envision their organisations in 25 years, how they can make their anti-doping programmes more athlete-centred, and what concrete steps they will take upon returning home.

Mr. Shin Asakawa, CEO of JADA, delivered the closing remarks, thanking participants for their active engagement and expressing sincere gratitude to the presenters. He emphasized the shared responsibility of the anti-doping community to correctly understand and implement the Code and International Standards, highlighting the importance of teamwork in achieving this goal. Concluding, he expressed hope that participants would leverage their professional networks to better prepare for the Code's future implementation. Reflecting on the insights gained over the intensive two-day seminar, participants sought to integrate these learnings into the clean sport environment, embodying the spirit of “Empowering the Clean Sport Community.”